Continuous beater and pulp selector



June zo, 1944. H, WELLS 2,351,728

CONTINUOUS BEATER AND PLP SELECTOR Filed Aug. 8, 1942 Patented June 20,1944 coNrmUous scarsa AND PULP sumaron Harold mmm wenn, excursus, N. Y.

Application August 8. 1942, Serial No. 454,180

(c1. ca -23 'l Claims.

'I'he invention relates to improvements in beaters and selectors for usein the preparation of pulp for paper-making purposes.

A tank is provided within which waste papers, broke or the like, arebeaten and circulated in an 'appropriate pulping liquid yby means of arotary pulper and circulator. In machines of this nature, there isusually a continuous discharge of the prepared pulp as it reaches apredetermined state of ilneness, discharge screens being provided tohold back the pulp until it has reached said state. It is the principalobject of thev present invention. however, to provides new and improvedconstruction 4which does not require any such perforated or foramlnousscreens, due to the fact that the rotary beater and circulator iscooperable with a wall of the tank in providing a restricted passagethrough which the prepared pulp may flow to the main outlet as itreaches the desired state of ilneness.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel structure in whichthe beater and circulator is adjustable with respect to the aforesaidwall so as to vary the size of the aforesaid restricted passage inaccordance with the extent to which the pulp is to be reduced beforedischarge.

A still further object is to provide a simple and inexpensive, yet ahighly efficient and desirable construction.

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subjectmatter hereinafter described and claimed, description being accomplishedby reference to the accompanying drawing.;

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view partly in elevation.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the beater andcirculator and related portions of the machine.

Fig. 3 is afragmentary top view of the beater and circulator,

is preferably of circular outline and provided at its peripheral edgelwith a continuous ridge Il. Openings Il and `II are' formed through theplate Il, and one or both of these openings may serve as outlet meansfor the pulp selected for discharge. In the present showing, only theopening il is an outlet opening and it communicates with a selected pulpdischarge pipe i8. The other opening I5 is closed by a suitable cover|`|v and may constitute a clean-out opening.

A vertical shaft bearing I8 is disposed below the plate Il and isrigidly carried thereby. Rotatably'mounted in this bearing I8 is avertical shaft I9 which extends to a point above the plate il, andsecured to the upper end of said shaft there is a beater and circulator2c. This beater and clrculator covers the opening It and prevents thetank contents from directly discharging through said opening, saidbeater and circulator, however, being upwardly spaced from the plate Ila sumcient distance to provide a restricted passage 2l through which thepulp must pass before it can discharge through said opening i4. It willthus be seen that the size of the restricted passage 2i will control thestate of fineness to which the pulp willbe reduced beforedischargewTherefore. by varying the size of this passage 2l. the pulpmay be reduced to any desired state of iineness. In order to so vary thesize of the passage 2|, the beater and circulator 20 is adjusted towardor from the plate Ii. as the case may be, and obviously this may beaccomplished in any suitable way. The construction described below ispreferred.

The housing of the shaft bearing I8 is com posed of an upper section 22integral with the plate Il, and 'a lower section 23 which is se- In thedrawing above brieny described, the l numeral u denotes a beating andcirculating tank having a feed opening 8 for pulp bales, waste papers.broke or the like. said tank also having a liquid inlet l. lZl'l'lebottom wall of the tank is denoted at 8 and the peripheral portion ofsaid bottom wall'preferably curves upwardly at il to the side wall ofthe tank which is of cylindrical form. In the present disclosure, thecentral portion of the bottom wall 8 is formed with an opening lli whichis covered by a plate Il, said plate being secured to said bottcmwallbyscrewsorthelike l2. Thisplate cured to said section 22 byscrews or the like 2d.

Upper and lower ball bearings 25 and 2t. for the shaft I9, are mountedin the lower housing section 23 and are spaced apart by a sleeve 2l. Theinner ring or race of the lower bearing 26 is disposed upon a shoulder28 on the shaft it. and a nut 29 on said shaft abuts the inner ring orrace of the upper bearing 25. It will thus be seen that verticaladjustment of the bearing t housing section 23 will eifect similaradjust tion 2l may be eifected. or by adding a shim or substituting ashim of greater thickness, a downwar adjustment may be effected.

Where the shaft i3 passes through the plate Il, I provide a suitablestuiling box 3i. Beals I2 and 33 are also provided around the shaft atthelupper and lower ends of the 'housing section 23.

The part 3l, shown` in Fig. 2, is simply a water flinger."

The beater and circulator lpreferably comprises a squat conical disk 35having an upstanding hub 33 in which the shaft I9 is securedl, the topof said disk 35 being provided with spilrally directed vanes 31 for notonly beating the pulp but for circulating it as indicated by the arrowsin Fig'. 1. Should any accumulation occur under the disk 35, it may beremoved through the opening Ii, or loosened by inserting a suitable toolthrough said opening, so that it may discharge through the opening I4.

It will be observed that the rotor 20 with its vvanes 31 causesthecirculation of the stock and thus produces a debering or refining actionon the pulp, and that the circulation is radially outward from therestricted passage 2| which is in eil'ect a single slot screen. Thelarger pieces of pulp are thus carried away from passage or slot 2i tobe further reduced by the circulation and the beating action of rotor orbeater 20 and its vanes 3'I. However, the velocity of the circulationindicated by the arrows in Fig. 1 is greater than the velocity of thestock discharging through the outlet pipe I8 and hence, the pulp thathas been suihciently refined to pass through the passage 2I will becarried out continuously. The passage or'slot 2I together with thecirculation thus forms a centrifugal classifier or'selector. The widthof the slot may be quickly and easily varied bychanging the thicknessoithe shim or shims 30 to provide the fineness of pulp desired to make thequality of paper for a specied order. It is a great and novel advantagefor the paper manufacturer to be able to quickly change in a few minutesthe width of the restricted passage to get the iineness of pulpnecessary tomake the right quality of paper.

It will be further noted that the plate III is of slightly greaterdiameter than the rotor or 'beater 20 and that the width of the raisedridge 4 I3 is such that it extends slightly under the peripheral edge ofthe beater. The ridge thus vforms a relief ring so that any pieces ofpulp that are large enough to just enter the passage or slot 2i will notbind or build up by gathering additional pieces and act as a brake, butwill freely pass through the passage or slot to the discharge. Thatstructure. together with the fact that one wall oi' the passage or slot2| is constantly moving, makes it unnecessary to use wipers or scrapers,and the machine has been found to be nonclogging and highly eillcient inoperation.

I have illustrated a multiple4 V-belt drive 38 connecting the shaft I9with an electric motor 39 but other appropriate driving means could ofcourse be employed. When a vertical adjustment of the shaft I9 iscarried out to vertically adjust the beater and circulator 20 asrequired, either the motor 39 maybe bodily adjusted vertically, or apulley oi the drive belt may be adjusted so that the belts will stilloperate in planes truly at right angles to the shaft axis.

From the foregoing taken in connection with .the accompanying drawing,it will be seen that novel and advantageous provision has been madewhile preferred details have been disclosed, variations may of course bemade. Moreover, it is not .essential that the beater and circulator andassociated elements coact with the bottom wall of the tank, for theycould well be positioned to cooperate with a vertical wall.

I claim:

1. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating. and circulatingtank, one wall of said tank having a selected pulp outlet. a circularbeater-and-circulator in said tank and rotatably mounted on an axisperpendicular to said wall, said beater-and-circulator covering saidselected pulp outlet and forming the sole means for barring directdischarge of the tank contents therethrough, said beater-and-circulatorbeing spaced suiilciently inward from said wall to leave a restrictedannular screening passage between the bottom edge of saidbeater-and-circulator and the underlying DOrtion of said wall through'which .properly reduced pulp may flowto said outlet,

and means for driving said beater-and-circulator.A

2. A structure as specied in claim 1; together with means for adjustingsaid beater-and-circulator with respect to said wall to vary thescreening action of said annular restricted passage.

3. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating and circulating tankhaving an opening in one wall, a plate secured against the inner side ofone wall vof said tankover said opening and having a selectedpulpoutlet. said plate .having an annular inwardly projecting ridge onits inner face. a rigidly mounted shaft bearing at the outer side ofsaid plate, a shaftrotatably mounted in said bearing and extendinginwardly from said plate, a circular beater-and-circulator centrallysecured to the inner end of said shaft and covering said selected pulpoutlet to form the sole means for preventing direct discharge of thetank contents therethrough, said heater-andcirculator having itsperiphery overlying said ridge and being suillciently close to providespace only for properly reduced pulp to flow between said ridge and saidbeater-and-circulator to said selected pulp outlet, and means fordriving said beater-and-circulator. l

4. A structure as specified in claim 3; together with mea'ns foradjusting said shaft bearing with respect to said plate to vary thedistance between said beater-and-circulator and the ridge on said plateaccording to the extent to which the pulp is to be reduced beforedischarge.

5. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating and circulating tankhaving an opening in the center of its bottom, a circular plate securedagainst the inner side of said bottom over said opening and having a.selected pulp outlet, said plate having a central aperture and anupstanding annular ridge onits upper face adjacent its edge, a verticalshaft extending through the aperture in said plate, a bearing for saidshaft, a sectional housing for said bearing hav.- ing an upper sectioncarried by the underside of said plate and a lower section to supportsaid bearing, a circular beater-and-circulator centrally secured to theupper end of said shaft,

and covering said selected pulp outlet to form the sole means forpreventing direct discharge of the tank contents therethrough, saidbeater-andcirculator having its periphery overlying said ridge and beingsuiciently close to provide space only for properly-reduced pulp to owbetween the ridge and the beater-and-circulator to said selected pulpoutlet, means for vertically adjusting the lower section of said housingto vary the space between the beater-and-circulator and said ridge, andmeans for rotating said shaft.

6. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating and circulating tank,one wall of said tank having a selected pulp outlet, a plate secured tosaid wall and having a dat circular portion surrounding said outlet, arotatable shaft perpendicular to said Wall and positioned concentricwith said fiat circular portion of the plate, a circularbeater-and-circulator in said tank fixed to said shaft and covering saidselected pulp outlet to form the Sole means for barring direct dischargeof the tank contents therethrough, said beater-and-circulator having itsperiphery spaced sulllciently inward from said flat circular portion ofthe plate to leave a restricted annular screening passage between thebottom edge of said beater-and-circulator and the underlying fiatcircular portion of the plate through which properly reduced pulp mayilow to said outlet, means for driving said shaft, and means foradjusting said beater-and-circulator with respect to the at circularportion of said plate to vary the screening action oi.' said restrictedannular pas- Sage.

7. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating and circulating tank,one wall of said tank having an opening, a plate secured upon the innersurface of said wall over its opening. said plate having a flat circularportion adjacent its edge and also having within said edge a selectedpulp outlet, a shaft perpendicular to said one wall and extendingcentrally through said plate, a hollow cone-shaped beater-and-circulatorxed to said shaft and positioned to overlie said plate with itsperiphery spaced from the ilat circular portion of the plate to providetherebetween a restricted annular screening passage through whichproperly reduced pulp may flow to said outlet, means on the outer sideof said plate for supporting said shaft, means for adjusting saidsupporting means to vary the space between the periphery of saidbeater-and-circulator and the fiat circular portion of said plateaccording to the extent to which the pulp is to be reduced beforedischarge.

HAROLD DONALD WELLS.

